Etymograph

English

language

Language comes from Old French language, from Vulgar Latin *linguāticum, from Latin lingua ‘tongue, speech’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s1‘tongue, speech, language’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dn̥ɣwā1‘tongue’reconstructed
  3. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEdingua1‘tongue’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElingua1‘tongue, speech, language’
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*linguāticum1reconstructed
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400language1
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500langage1‘language’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1655language1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English language
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […]: “Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that they…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dn̥ǵʰwéh₂sWiktionary, English language‘tongue, speech, language’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dn̥ɣwāWiktionary, English language‘tongue’reconstructed
  3. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEdinguaWiktionary, English language‘tongue’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElinguaWiktionary, English language‘tongue, speech, language’
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*linguāticumWiktionary, English languagereconstructed
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400languageWiktionary, English language
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500langageWiktionary, English language‘language’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1655languageWiktionary, English language. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […]: “Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that they…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s ‘tongue, speech, language’

tongue, tung, 21 more

through Latin dingua ‘pre-classical form of lingua’

linguistics, sublingual, 21 more

through Latin lingua ‘tongue, speech, language’

linguistic, bilingual, lingo, linguist, lingual, lingua, linguine, 23 more

Today it means

noun A body of words, and set of methods of combining them (called a grammar), understood by a community and used as a form of communication.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “language”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s / language

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